First post. Been lurking for a while though! Want opinions on the best external HD for a 2010 mini. Stackability and visual appeal are important. Also want to know best Hub for my mini. Getting lots of conflicting ratings and reviews on both. Any advice appreciated. Thanks

right now there is one model that kind of stacks with the 2010 mac mini.

with the development of t-bolt and the hope for a 2011 mac mini to have t-bolt hookup I would rather you say you have not purchased your mini. I would then try to sell you on the idea of waiting a few months for a 2011 model to be released. Of course if you own the 2010 model and no longer can return it well then I will look for the stacker link for you._________________2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

Yes 2010. Bought the one with the drive but upgraded it to 2.66ghz processor. Not going to return it._________________2010 mac mini upgraded to 2.66mghz. Very First Mac Computer
Airport express and Airport extreme
4th gen ipod touch 32g

myself if I was sticking with a 2010 2.66 I would buy two sans digital units one with usb/esata and one with all the fittings usb/esata/ fw800 I would put them side by side and use the two of them . The fw800 one for booting and the usb one for a TM. I would put a fast hdd in the fw800 one like a caviar black 2tb and a big 3tb hdd in the usb one. gives me up to 5tb and the oem 2.5 inch drive for 5.32 tb total._________________2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

Yeah I figured if I was going to keep it for 3 years I had better upgrade the processor. The Iomega mini max doesn't stack? I wanted to try to stay under $200 for now._________________2010 mac mini upgraded to 2.66mghz. Very First Mac Computer
Airport express and Airport extreme
4th gen ipod touch 32g

then use your own 2.5 inch hdd . they have been lax in making a good fix for this. I suspect that they knew about t-bolt coming in 2011 and when it comes will make a good stacker._________________2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

Well maybe I will just wait till they get it right. I have a WD my book 500g. I need to reformat this to FAT32 to get it to work with Mac and PC right? I want to hook this to the extreme so I can access it wirelessly. I think it will work. Will FAT32 work with time machine? What is this t bolt? Have a link?_________________2010 mac mini upgraded to 2.66mghz. Very First Mac Computer
Airport express and Airport extreme
4th gen ipod touch 32g

Well maybe I will just wait till they get it right. I have a WD my book 500g. I need to reformat this to FAT32 to get it to work with Mac and PC right? I want to hook this to the extreme so I can access it wirelessly. I think it will work. Will FAT32 work with time machine? What is this t bolt? Have a link?

t-bolt is a new hook up jack. it is only on 2011 macbook pros. it is supposed to be very fast. it is so new they have not released external hdds for it yet. I have links but this is for the future not now. this is for macbook pros :

I bought the 2TB Lacie Quadra, since I really like the design, and no one has stepped up to do a Mac mini 2010 look a like yet.

Yeah that is the one I am leaning towards. Is it quiet? Supposed to be fanless...looks nice. The Iomega prestige looked nice but only 5800 rpms._________________2010 mac mini upgraded to 2.66mghz. Very First Mac Computer
Airport express and Airport extreme
4th gen ipod touch 32g

2010 wants fw800 for top speed unless you do an esata hack (a p.i.t.a. to do with the 2010 mini) so picking a good fw800 is the way to go. I have fantom 2tb externals a pair of them. I use them with my 2009 mac mini esata hack. They had a great sale 99 bucks each but they only have esata and usb. give me a minute or two to get links and give a good explanation of how to go about your setup._________________2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

why are they cousins well you have the same chipset and in the case of the sans digital you get to pick the drive. in the case of the fantom they use an hitachi last one that I opened and it is okay. If i were you and did not fear putting in a drive I would buy the sans digital one with just usb/esata and one with all the bells and whistles . I would use the usb one to be a time machine put in a 2tb hdd and i would use the fw800 one to be a boot drive. I would put this hdd in it.